factor web site which is different from bill o'reilly.com. also we would like to you spout off about the factor from anywhere in the world. got lots to talk about this evening. o'reilly at foxnews.com. name and town, name and town, name and town if you wish to owe bine. word today do not be macabre. don't be that when writing to the factor because it's frightening if you are macabre. again, thanks for watching us tonight. i am bill o'reilly. please always remember that the spin stops right here because we are definitely looking out for you. >> sean: welcome to "hannity." now, according to press reports yesterday, [speaking spanish] er of the house, john boehner is

pressing for a deal with president obama that would include $twenty one -- $1 trillion in cuts, what it really means is a tax on millionaires and only $250 billion of entitlement cuts will happen now through a proposal to slow social security growth by using a different inflation formula to calculate cost of living increases and any commitment to a process in 2013 that brings the rest of the revenue and the rest of the cuts -- supposedly. i don't trust it. nation, boehner is willing to give obama a one-year debt limit increase. obama wants it for two years to deny republicans the leverage they have to force reductions in spending come 2013 and he wants $80 billion in in42 structure and unemployment benefits. boehner is arguing that a proposal by obama for only $850

billion in spending cuts and $8 trillion in spending. that's miles per hour plan "a" and captures the broad contours. if a dole, they have to sell it to their parties. in an indication of how far the negotiations have shifted in the past year. boehner confirmed that his definition now of a balanced agreement -- well that means an equal amount of spending cuts and new revenue. so a trillion in cuts and a trillion in new revenue. he said that most people would agree that that means balanced. if you go to the talks in 2011, boehner insisted on a ratio at that time, a year ago, 4-1, cuts to revenue. you talk about the goalpost being moved. the compromise from speaker boehner would be that he is willing to increase the rates on some income earners, only $1

million or more in income and obama want its to be $400,000. boehner is willing to give an increase in the debt limit. he won't get an increase in the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. now, want only did the president reject that offer, he race to the microphones today and he declared that he won the debate with boehner on tax rates. so clearly, he now wants to humiliate all republicans, as i predicted. >> i remain optimistic, though. because if you look at what the speaker has proposed, he's conceded that income tax rates should go up, except right now he only wants to have them go up for millionaire, if you are making $900,000, he thinks you can't afford to pay a little more in taxes. but the principle that rates are going to need to go up, he has conceded. i have said, i am willing to make some cuts.

what separates is us a few hundred million dollars. the idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can't bridge that gap doesn't make a lot of sense. >> sean: the president wants the country to go over the fiscal cliff and the republicans have feared this from the beginning. the president gets to raise taxes on every single american. he gets to gut defense and an added bonus, he gets to blame republicans. speaker boehner has put forward what he calls plan "b" to allow tax rates on annual income above $1 million to rise from 35 to 39.6% and make permanent lower rates on incomes below that threshold and fix the alternative minimum tax. the president's complaining that taxes won't go up on businesses making $900,000 a year. this president has never been and never will be serious about finding a so-called balanced approach. by the way, i predictedded that

would be the case. what are we to make of all of this? i am first of all, disappointed in the republicans. they were not elected to be a rubber stamp for barack obama's agenda. they are the only check and balance against this radical agenda. if the republicans don't stand up for lower tax, limited government and less regulation, who will? if they cannot effectively make the moral case against generational theft, who is going to make that case? going over the fiscal cliff is not good for conserveatism and i would argue, it's not good for the country, but neither is agreeing to another bad inside-the-beltway washington deal. by the way, stealing from our children and our grandchildren -- that's immoral. which party now will stand up for them? for our kids? our grandkids? which party's going to stop the madness? joining me with reaction, florida senator marco rubio. you know, senator, i am a little frustrated here because this is

our one check and balance -- and that case has not been made. what's wrong with making the case that they are the party against generational theft? i think that's a winning issue for any party that makes that case. >> thanks for having me on. it was a very powerful introduction. you are exactly right. here's the fundamental problem. i recognize the difficult position that the speaker's in now, if january,ing nothing happens, we go over the fiscal cliff. but i are right in the point we are making. this is the great flaw in all of these arguments that the president's making that i wish more people were talking about. if you raise taxes on the wealthiest americans, who he calls the wealthiest merv, people making $250,000 or more, if you raise it 100%, that doesn't solve anything. the proposal doesn't solve anything. it creates a bunch of problems. i explained this to someone i met, someone who works at a law firm and said to me, yeah, let

the taxes go up on the richest people. i said, that may sound great. but let me explain, that means your boss, corporation, a single lawyer, single law firm, if their taxes go up by $50,000, they will have to find that money from somewhere. and it might be from your benefits, it might be from your hour, it might be from your job. those are the people who are going to be hurt n. return, you generate six, seven, eight days of government spending. that's not a solution. that's the problem. the tax increases that the president wants, it doesn't solve anything, but it does hurt job creation and growing the economy is the only way to solve the $16 trillion debt that continues to grow, no matter which one of these plans pass. >> sean: why are republicans afraid to take that issue on, the way you are articulating it? why are they afraid of saying we have a spending problem, we

don't have a revenue problem? >> you know, in fairness, i think republicans want what's good for the country. that are afraid of the fiscal cliff. the real fiscal cliff is not what we are facing now, the real fiscal cliff is a $16 trillion debt with no plan to pay for it and an economy that isn't growing fast enough. we should be for pro-growth strategies, the only solution is the combination of fiscal discipline and real economic growth. what the president is proposing, what the president is proposing is neither. there is no fiscal aspect. what the president is proposing does nothing to cut back on the debt, short term or long term? we are borrowing, 46 cents of every dollar, trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. $16 trillion, $20 trillion and it will soon be $25 trillion. i once worked in a boat yard.

if you put a luxury tax on boats, who gets hurt, the guys building the boat. i worked in construction, i worked in restaurants. you take away money from people who have it, they are going to hire fewer contractors and go on fewer vacations and spend less money in restaurants. who gets hurt? how did we turn interest a country that has such class envy? where did this all come from in. >> point and the point i tried to make. look, it's not the business owner, directly, that will be impacted, it's the people who work for them that will lose their jobs, lose hours and benefits. the cost of the tax increases will be paid by the workers and the employees of the small businesses. and here's the other point. this exposes the great hypocrisy of the left. they claim the tax increes have no impact. why are they in favor of a cigarette tax? a carbon tax? lowering the corporate tax? they recognize, if you tax

cigarettes, people will smoke less. if you tax carbon, people will produce less of it. tax rates do have -- the more you tax something, the less people will do t. so it does have an impact. it is really going to hurt the workers. those are the people who are going to have to pay the price of this tax increase. >> when president reagan asked, is it a third party or a revitalized second party in he said, we need a party, not with pale pastels, but bold-colored differences. did republicans miss an opportunity here to communicate how their vision for the country is different than barack obama's -- debt, deficit, socialist view of the world? >> absolutely. i think that's still an opportunity we need it take because this debate's not going to end with this conversation in december about the fiscal cliff. the fundamentals, irrespective of the fiscal cliff are the same. our economy's not growing fast enough. the people who will be hurt the most by the tax increases are

the people at the small businesses, who may lose their jobs and their benefits because of what barack obama is proposing. we get nothing in return for it. it solves nothing. >> sean: we have debates on the debt ceiling. there will be opportunities. will they take a stand? >> we are running out of time. >> sean: we are running out of time -- it is a really important time. >> thank you? >> coming up, since september 11, the day our consulate came under attack and four americans lost their lives, i have been asking what happened? and why were the people who were there -- why were they not better protectd? the fault lies at the highest level of the obama administration. we will check in with charles krauthammer on the explosive findings, next.

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report on the september 11 attack and places the blame squarely on the state department. reading in part, quote... >> sean: and the report is causing waves in washington. four state department officials have now resigned. according to the a.p., two of them are deputy assistant secretary sharlene lamb and eric bozwell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security. the president is running away from questions on this matter. >> thank you, everybody. >> reporter: your reaction to the benghazi report? >> sean: joining me with reaction, fox news contributor and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. merry christmas to you. >> pleasure to be here, you too.

>> sean: this is devastating. media -- they buried this on page 11 in today's edition of the washington post. it seems to me, it deserves far better attention and would be gettingerring more attention if this were a republican president. your thoughts? >> there is no doubt about that. as you know, if the sun rises in the east, you know, if any of this had occurred on the previous president's watch, they would have been all over the place. but the new york times had it on the front page because it's a little bit hard to ignore. you have to have pretty extreme to put it on page 11. but it's very scathing. but there is something about this, it's scathing, but it is nonspecific. it basically spreads around the blame, without naming names. so we get these deputy secretaries who resigned. but the questions we still don't know and we won't know until we hear the testimony from the secretary of state, what did she know, when did she continue?

where was she on the day? did she give any orders? and that also applies to the president. we don't know what he was doing in the seven, eight hours of that terrible day. we don't know what he said, what he ordered. were they counter mannedded and those are the questions that need to be asked. we do know as a result of the report, as we knew before, there were huge errors of judgment, denying security, denying the kind of protection the ambassador and others were begging for. and the larger issue, sean, of misunderstanding the nature of what was happening in north africa, with the growth of al qaeda and pretending to the electorate with the election approaching that al qaeda was on its knees. >> sean: i think those are all great questions and observations. let me, if i can, add two more to them because i think it's really person. the report was also clear, there were no protests -- none that

day -- as we had been told, not only by susan rice, but by the president himself at the u.n. two weeks later and it had nothing to do with this youtube video. that's disturbing, heading into a presidential election. it tells me we were consciously lied to. >> we certainly know we were misled. i remember the president in the second debate taking umbrage at the suggestion that anybody in his administration, including, he said, the u.n. ambassador who would have misled the nation on what happened -- now it's unequivocally metaphysically true that she misled the nation. the only question is was it a deliberate misleading, in which case it's lying and deception. or was it inadvertent? was she unaware, in which case it's supreme incompetence. i still think we don't know the answer to that because we know the so-called talking points

from the intelligence community were altered. we still don't know by whom. and it is clear that the fbi imhiew on the friday before susan rice appeared by interviewing the people in benghazi, who had survived the attack that there had been no demonstration. that was known. yet, she kept insisting over and over again that all of this came out of a demonstration. >> sean: charles, maybe i am more cynical than you -- >> i think you probably are. although, i mean -- i could give you a run for your monosome things. >> sean: no, you can. but sharlene lamb did testify. you have to wonder if there might be retribution there. she did say that the state department was watching this in realtime. that's problematic for them. we know, as we look at the timelines that have been released, charles, is that -- leon panetta and many leaders in our military, within hours were

meeting with the president in the oval office about this. and there was information that was coming in. so i am less inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt here. the evidence seems incontrivertible to me. >> it seems that they are exploiting the fact that the media were not interested and wanted to protect the administration, particularly before election day. by saying, we have investigations going on, so we can't speak about this, but it isn't as if the secretary of state needed an inquire tow tell the nation what she knew on that day, what she did, or that the president needed an inquiry in order for him to say -- which he still has not said, where he was, what he was doing and what he ordered to try to protect our brave men and women in benghazi on that fateful day. >> sean: charles, you had a good line. hillary has severe benghazi allergy. >> yeah, i have been doing a lot

of work on that investigation. she first reported the case and it's a very, very severe one. >> sean: very, very severe. let's see the medical report on that. charles, merry christmas, happy new year. >> you too. >> sean: coming up, we will have more on the story on benghazi that the media is ignoring, as hillary clinton has managed to remain untouched and absent. she will not be testifying before congress tomorrow, like originally planned. it seems that she had a fainting spell of some kind. we will get liz cheney's take. and singleman chavits is saying they were hiding people at the consulate from the american people. what do they know? what are they not telling us? straight ahead. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see?

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>> sean: as the obama white house tries to decide how to spend the scathing report on the benghazi attack that killed four americans, there is one pressing question that we want answered: where's hillary clinton? in the 39-page report, her name is mentioned once and only notes that she commissioned the report. that's not all. she was supposed to testify before lawmakers this week about the white house coverup. but escaped having to do so because she's reportedly recovering from a concussion. earlier today, we learned that secretary clinton will testify, supposedly before mid-january, is the obama administration hoping that the report is forgotep by then? timing seems convenient to me. joining me with reaction, congressman jason chavits and liz cheney. liz, awfully convenient? i am not disputing that she may have had a fall, but then she was sick the week before... this doesn't sound like she's trying to get to the bottom of

it. it sounds like they have delayed and delayed and delayed and it's convenient. >> i think that's right. if she had done the honorably thing and been in front of this investigation, if she had been out in response to the many requests that she has received from the hill before now, people might not be so suspicious about what is happening now, which -- now will afford her yet more time not to speak out. i mean treally -- you know, you think about the extent to which these are four american who is are died on secretary clinton's watch. we have heard her say this hollow -- well, i take responsibility. how is she taking responsibility what is she doing? four americans died on your watch and you have a report that i think soft-pedals it, but at the same time lays out very significant security concerns and dereliction of duty on the part of her state department, these are conditions under which in many instance, someone would

resign, not because it's the end of her term, but yet, she sat quiet. >> sean: if this were your dad, george w. bush, the media would be all ov this for weeks, if want months. congressman, there are people who were there that escaped, that upon the true story, you say they are preventing congressional authorities and congressional leaders like yourself from even talking to. has that changed at all, congressman? >> no. remember, this is an internal report. this is the state department looking at the state department. even they are coming to the conclusion that there are 19 systemic problems and challenges. tioned severaled states times in the report, needing to be more involved, have not been given the same documents they have been able to see and hear. yes, we have people who were killed. but we have people who survived. we have been unable -- thy have not provided the names to the american people. they have not let the country know what state they come from and we have not been able to

engage and talk to these people. >> sean: i know somebody that vispoken to, that spoke to a person who was there, congressman. i understand that you have also had some contact through an intermediary that are telling me -- and i am not sure exactly what they told you -- that we were lied to from the very beginning. >> oh, i think, clearly, we were lied to from the very beginning. we were totally misled. it's only been the whistleblowers that came forward, the brave whistleblowers and started to tell us the truth. it's only the united states congress congress and chairman issa, pushing the administration. otherwise, we wouldn't even have this happening. but these people are out there, please, keep contacting my office. >> sean: yeah. all right. liz, that's the thing here. it seems to me that a couple of hurdles they had in the beginning. 1, they wanted to run out the clock to the election. they were successful. here's the scathing report. we were lied to about the issue of whether or not this was a

protest that went awry, that's not true. this had nothing to do with the youtube video, that narrative was told to us for weeks. there was evidence to support t. how were they able to hide this from the american people, up to and including the election and does that become a bigger scandal if they were hiding it for the election? >> i think clearly they were hiding it for the election. i would add to the very significant concerns here the fact that not a single person has been held accountable -- not a single person. we have not done anything to capture or kill the terrorists who undertook this action and killed our people. that's in large part because we have no interrogation program because we are treating this like a law enforcement matter because the fbi is asking nicely to get access to the within person who seems to be in custody in tunisia. but we have done nothing to bring anybody to justice for these murders. you know, this is a four-part

scandal. it is a four-part coverup. the american people need to recognize how serious this is -- neither the president nor the secretary of state have given anybody a true or full accounting of what happened and what they knew and when they knew-- what's next? >> that goes back to june 6. our consulate was bombed on june 6 and they didn't do anything about it. what bothers me as much as anything, we had four people down, killed and injured people, we didn't go in and get them. i want to remind the president, we don't fight horses and bay anettes. we have assets. we are the united states of america. we did not unleash our military to go in and save those people. despite what the president said, he did not do that. this is not the end by any means. i promise you, as we turn the corner, if hillary clinton is not the secretary of state, i think she still has to come before congress. as a private citizen, she has to come before the united states

congress. >> sean: is it possible that the president lied? do you think he consciously lied to save himself for re-election? >> i don't think we have been given the truth. i think we have been misled. lied is a strong word. i want to stick to the facts, but the state department is not being candid with us. we will continue to fight to get the truth. >> sean: liz, is there a difference between misleading someone and lying? >> there is not a difference. what did the president know when he told us repeatedly that it was a video. i hope that there will be subpoenas issued. i think the secretary of state may need to be subpoenaed before she is willing to testify. >> sean: good to see you both. great to see you. the president is seizing the sandy hook tragedy to push through stricter gun legislation. we will check in with michelle malkin, but when it comes to the guns link to the fast & furious scandal, we don't discuss. another senseless murder is linked to that botched operation. we will look at obama's gun

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visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. >> we need to discuss who we are as a nation, talk about the freedoms that we have, the rights that we have, and how those might be used in a responsible way. >> sean: that's eric holder after the tragedy in newtown last week. and president obama pledged to push through new guns without dlai. but where are holder and the obama administration when it comes to the guns that fell into the hands of mexican drug cartels. a fast & furious firearm has been tie to the death of mexican beauty queen, maria susana gomez homas killed in late november. same state department of justice that allowed hundreds of weapons to fall in the hands of kidnappers and drug dealers and criminals and are now going to consider taking away guns from

law-abiding citizens. if that's not pure hypocrisy, i don't know what is. so we gave our government the obama administration gave guns to kidnappers, criminals, drug cartels, murderers -- these weapons show up killing border agents, but no they are going to lecture america on gun control. i got this straight? >> yeah. i think that's the honest national conservation on guns and gun violence that we need to have. it has to be thorough and complete t. does have to incorporate some honest criticism of this administration's own culpability in bloodshed. you are talking about at least 2500 ak-47s, semi-automatic assault weapons that were walked across the border with the knowledge and ascent and consent of this government. it was a state-sponsored criminal enterprise. and hundreds of mexican men, women and children, in addition

to two border agents and untold other innocent victims, including this latest one involving the mexican beauty pageant winner, very young, innocent girl who was basically used as a human shield. and now you have the same people who are in charge of that program tasked with telling americans, domestically, how to control their own guns. it's rather galling. >> sean: so fort hood is workplace violence. fast & furious -- we give guns and we don't track them to murderers and now all of a sudden, we are going to have a discussion, even though not one law that is being proposed currently -- not one -- would have prevented this tragedy in connecticut. none of this seems to make sense. the media's running with this, fixated on this, pushing the agenda. and it appears that the president is -- is going forward. will the republicans hold the line on this one? >> i hope not. there has been a lot of

depressing capitulation on the part of the republicans in washington, d.c., not just on fiscal issues, but a lot of core issues as well. i know we don't have a lot of time. but i do want to take off the political pundit hat and talk as a parent because every american parent in this country is horrified by what happened on friday. and this is the first time i have been on the air since it happened. and i have to say, a lot of the political noise that we have heard has just been so unhelpful. clearly, it is a human impulse to want to tell your own kid it's i have a 12 and a 9-year-old that you can do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't happen again. but evil exists in this world. human conceit throughout human history, of course, seems to pretend that we can prevent the sometimes unpreventable. >> and when you take that impulse that you need to do something and you turn it into a political football, what you get is more harm than good.

this impulse to agitate and legislate and regulate when the history shows and the reality of this particular situation shows that all of the gun control legislation in the world wouldn't have stopped this mad man. connecticut already has an assault weapons ban. we need politicians for once, to just stop, shut up and think before they act recklessly again. >> sean: i said very much -- well, i said very much the same thing on monday's commentary on this program, michelle. very similar comments. if we are going to have a national discussion, let's have it about mental illness, let's have it about parenting -- are we allowed to discuss values and how values are not discussed in school and we -- can we in part of this discussion discuss god in the classroom? is that fair? or is it only a limed discussion? >> right. what about the 446 children in

chicago who died because of the gun violence, primarily gang-related violence in chicago? the hometown of barack obama. >> sean: thanks for being with us. a christian pastor, taken prisoner inside iran. the iranian-born american remains behind bars. no formal charges have been filed. we will hear from his desperate wife. also, the u.s. attorney on the case, and then famed french actor, businessman, renounces his french citizenship. he is now my favorite french actor -- girard departu will join us. coming up, greg gutfeld is here to react. (announcer) when subaru owners look in the mirror, they see more than themselves. so we celebrate our year-end with the "share the love" event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities.

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will bid adieu to his french citizenship and move to belgium to escape the burdonsome tax rates. a million euros are taxed at a 75% rate that. didn't sit well with the french prime minister, who blasted the actor, calling his decision, unpatriotic and pathetic. the french actor has fired back, chastising the prime minister saying, i don't want expect to be pitied or praised, but i reject the word pathetic. he said, we will no longer have the same country. i am a true european, a citizen of the world and i hand over my passport and my social security card -- which i have never used. joining me with the author of the joy of hate, a new york times best seller, greg gutfeld. how are you? >> good to see you? >> what's going on? >> same old thing. hanging out. >> sean: congratulations on the good book tour. he's my favorite french actor.

my favorite frenchman at this point. >> so you are devastated? >> sean: no. it's interesting. they thought, they went out and the government demachinized him because he said, i am not paying this. and then the people of france -- they applauded him. >> yeah. he's a big sack of angry onions. he has a big misshapen head like a paitateo -- potato with a muscrat on top. but he's right though. i am not crazy about this guy. but he is right, in a socialist society, they see human beings as atms on life support. he has put in 115 euros -- million, over his lifetime. he is taxed 85 pmpls but somehow, he is unpatriotic and their definition is taxed until death. and the fact that he wants to go to belgium -- and there is no belgium. it's fictitious. >> sean: but you said -- what's the difference here. if you live in -- if you live in

california -- >> yeah. >> sean: the state and the federal income tax is going up to 53%. then you have the city taxes, san bernardino is filing for bankruptcy and other cities. same in new york. >> yeah. the hilarious hypocrisy, our hollywood celebrities, they will still live in malibu or brentwood. but the movies are being made in canada. they are made in british columbia and place where is it's cheap. so they're the real hypocrites. at least this guy is sayingly, i'm outta here. but he's renouncing his citizenship, which means he is giving up his beret, his baguette and the body odor. >> sean: send your hate mail to gutfeld. >> i'm half french-- i'm irish. what's an irish seven-course meal? a six-pack and a potato. >> a quarter of me is outraged. i'm a quarter irish and the rest

of me is. >> caller: nebriated. >> sean: belgium, open arms -- too bad. we invite all of our fellow freshmen here -- >> the reason is, only 4 people live in belgium. it's a very tiny country. >> sean: i don't blame them. it's very interesting. we learn that barack obama's friend at google, eric schmitt, he has a shell corporation in bermuda. we also see that warren buffett has all of these tax loopholes he uses with his charity so he doesn't pay a fortune in taxes. >> if you are living in a -- in a system where you're punishing the successful, which is what is happening, you have two options, you flee or you hide your assets. and what you are seeing in france and what you are seeing in the united states -- if we go in that direction, makers will flee and the takers will stop trying to achieve because they can see that you just get punished. what's the point?

>> sean: listen. that's the whole story of detroit. question is, how many americans are going to leave here? over time? with these tax rates? i would argue, you will see a lot of people that are wealthy pull their money out. >> but we have so much cool stuff, it's hard to leave. we have-- you don't have to leave, duel citizenship, create a shell company. you have a shell company, don't you? >> i do. it's in a foreign country called hawaii. it sells shells. it's a legitimate shell company. i have made hundreds of dollars off it. i make underwear -- uncomfortable, but sexy. [chuckles] >> sean: okay. greg gutfeld, sharing a lot more than we ever thought he would share. more than we care to know. or too much information. tmi. >> that's what it stands for? i never knew! >> sean: all right. good to see you my irish brother. coming up next, an american christian pastor jailed inside

iran, visiting his family. we will explain what happened and hear from his wife and her attorney, coming up next, right here on "hannity." bass proshops has plenty of great last minute gift ideas, like... plus there's still time for a free picture with santa.

>> sean: welcome back to "hannity." a 32-year-old american pastor has been detained by one of

iran's most notorious prisons since late september for charges that have not been made public, other than that he is a convert christian. he was born in iran and granted u.s. citizenship in 2010, after marrying an american woman. since then, he has traveled back to iran to visit family multiple times and has been questioned for his christian work throughout the country. now he is being held, physically and emotionally abused and could face a lengthy prison term or possibly the death penalty. now the american center for law & justice has gotten involved in hopes of having him released. so why is the obama administration, the u.n., the state department? we have the wife of the reverend, and from the center of law & justice, jay sekulo. obviously, he has gone back and and forth here. had little problems, but not big problems. what happened in this case that was different?

>> i believe that this time, the revolutionary guard has been handling his case and previously, the intelligence police was. i believe the recent change from the intelligence police to the revolutionary guard has changed the way they have been treating christians and christian activities in iran. >> sean: right. jay, not different from what we seeing, captic christians are persecuted in egypt. a lot of christians in the muslim world -- this is not uncommon. it's happening more and more as a matter of fact as we see the rise of radicalism. what have you found out in this particular case? do you have access had tohim? >> his lawyers have been denied access to him in iran. the real troubling thing is -- first of all, we are talking about a u.s. citizen. you mentioned that we did not have state department help right now. we are now -- this is the first time this has gone public. this is a story that came out today, it was posted on

foxnews.com. a fox news contributor and been working with tiffany barons from our office. what we have right now, sean, is a situation not unlike the prisoner who was eventually released. will take international pressure. the crimes alleged here -- are not public. they have not indicted. but it's because he's a christian. the islamic regimes have continued to crack down in iran and in egypt. the coptic christians in egypt having an awful time. and we have a u.s. citizen. we have a u.s. citizen detained in a horrible facility, jail niran, and we have got to do everything we can global tow get him released because right now, the situation is grave for anybody in this situation. but again, we have a u.s. citizen, who is being not only penalized but held, not only against his will, but you don't know what is happening to him. his wife, you are talking to right now and family other are missing their husband.

it is christmas. this administration, the obama administration needs to come out publicly. they can do it through various sources that deal directly with iran. we are asking governments that deal with iran to do just that. >> sean: when is the last time you have spoken to your husband? >> actually... it was... this morning. by some miracle, he called his family's house in iran and they were able to call from another cell phone and we got to speak phone to phone. he was desperately wanting to hear our kids' voice. and he got to-- go ahead. what did he say? was he able to talk? i assume he was being monitord? >> yes. you know, he has been hoping for the last few months to try to get out on bail. he is -- gone through some harsh treatments there. he had me put the phone on my daughter's ears and she was half

asleep, it was 5:00 in the morning. he told her, daddy loves you. and she had been wondering for weeks and weeks if he had grown a beard. she had missed hearing his voice. she said, mommy, i am forgetting daddy's voice. so he got to -- go ahead. i'm sorry. >> he got -- he got to say, daddy loves you and i do have a beard. it's grown out pretty big. he got to talk to her and he was pretty happy about that. it was only lasted a few minutes. >> sean: how do you know he's being abused, besides the fact he's being persecuted for religious reasons? >> just -- we have had a few phone to phones and a few weeks ago he told me -- there is prisoners hurting him and there was a couple of rounds of interrogators, the second round had hit him and had -- had physically abused him. and so he mentioned that. >> sean: yeah.